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After anonymous Jets players made comments to the Daily News pointing out something everyone has always known -- Tim Tebow is not a good practice player -- the team turned into a five-alarmer that hasn't been put out quite yet. Everyone's gotten dragged into the mess, including owner Woody Johnson, who's telling reporters that Tebow isn't here to sell hot dogs.

That's the kind of thing that leads to another round of questions about just why he is here, since the team doesn't really seem to want to use him. And that leads to a round of questions about why it's such a big deal that a player called Tebow terrible when the team doesn't seem to have all that different an opinion on the matter.

At any rate, the Jets have been under fire from the left, right and center this week, and they've responded by saying that the whole debacle will wind up galvanizing the team. They've done this while also saying that the team was already a tight knit unit, but you probably don't need an example of how much time this team spends chasing rabbits down rabbit holes.

If they have been galvanized, there's a very easy way for the Jets to show it: Go out on Sunday and pound the Rams for 60 minutes before flying home with a win that puts the wolves at bay for a little bit longer.

Mark Sanchez can show what he thinks about the quality of his backup being worthy of national debate by playing a game free of crippling turnovers and Antonio Cromartie will end snitching wonders by making a few plays in the secondary. Shonn Greene can stop arguing the context of his comments on the team needing a change and create one by running the ball as powerfully as the Jets (and, increasingly, only the Jets) seem to think he's able to run.

On and on it goes, but one guy could use a win more than any other. Rex Ryan's job seems fairly secure given the circumstances, but an epic losing streak combined with another year of internal dissension likely changes that picture.

The bewildered pose Ryan likes to take after losses has stopped being a show of bravado. It's become a guy howling at the moon even because he's overwhelmed by the situation and unable to figure out a way to fix what's wrong.

Beating the Rams this week isn't going to save this season, not with the Patriots coming to town on Thanksgiving night, but it will create a little room to breathe after a week with precious little oxygen.